Children experience anxiety. As a teacher, it’s your responsibility to help children identify their feelings, as this is the first step in helping them manage them. Kids who know how to identify, understand, and manage feelings experience benefits to their overall well-being.
We’ve listed eight activities to cement children’s learnings from “The Kissing Hand” book. This book teaches children how to cope with separation anxiety, and the activities listed below will make it easier for the little ones to understand that concept.
Great The Kissing Hand Activities for Preschool
Before introducing various activities to children, start by telling them the story of The Kissing Hand book. The plot will help children understand the goal of the activities.
The Kissing Hand book tells the story of Chester Racoon, who was scared of starting kindergarten and leaving home. His mom planted a kiss on his hand and reassured him of all the good things he could experience in school, including new books, toys, and friends.
During the read-aloud, go slow and let the children see the beautiful illustrations of the book. Make the story relatable by asking them what they would do if they were Chester Racoon.
Supply:
Grab The Kissing Hand today, so you can share the wonderful story of Chester Racoon with the class.
Raccoons are the ultimate scavengers in the wild — so why not let children become one to better understand Chester? This activity is sure to keep the children engaged in the story.
Before reading the book to the children, place heart-shaped cutouts on important areas of your classroom, like the aquarium and hand-washing stations. Lead the children on the scavenger hunt while introducing them to the different areas of the classroom.
Supplies:
- Red-colored paper
- Scissors
For other activities related to The Kissing Hand, check out scholastic.com.
Using songs and poems is an excellent way of telling the story of Chester Racoon. It encourages story recall in a fun, engaging way!
You can find many versions of songs and poems about The Kissing Hand on YouTube, but the one from Mrs. Jones’ Room is a favorite among many preschool teachers.
The Kissing Hand Song is sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, making it easier for children to remember and memorize the lines.
Supply:
- Online videos of The Kissing Hand Songs and Poems
To learn more about this activity, visit livingmontessorinow.com.
Children need to express different emotions they may feel on the first day of school. Give them the opportunity to express theirs by making this First Day Feelings Graph.
For this activity, prepare a board with different illustrations of emotions: happy, excited, sad, and scared. These illustrations should be arranged at the bottom of a row. Ask the children to write their names on a piece of paper and instruct them to put their names on the row that best describes their emotions. End the session by asking the children why they felt that way.
Supplies:
- Board
- Glue
- Illustrations of different emotions
- Pieces of paper (where children will write their names)
Click justreedblog.com to access other The Kissing Hand activities. You may also want to check out more feelings activities for preschoolers.
Building children’s concentration and attention span will become a breeze with this activity. You’ll only need to cut out hands with different colored hearts on the palms for this one! After reading The Kissing Hand, use these hand-shaped memory cards to help develop short-term memory skills with children.
To prepare, print the cards and cut each hand. Use white-colored cardstock so the children can’t see the color of the heart through the paper. Once the hands are ready, put them on the table face down. Mix them up and arrange them in rows of three.
The first child flips over two cards and keeps them in their original spots on the table. Make sure every child has had a chance to flip over two cards. If the cards match, the player earns a score and goes again. When all of the matches have been found, the child with the most score wins. To make the game more fun, have each child say the color of the hand out loud during their turn.
Supplies:
- Cardstock
- Glue
- The Kissing Hand Memory Game Printable
To download the printable for the game, visit activity-mom.com.
Children will love raccoons even more after making this pencil topper. This kids craft also encourages creativity, as children can design their raccoons in whichever way they want.
Use a thicker pencil so children can use them with ease. Wrap a gray fuzzy wire around the top end of the pencil. Add another fuzzy wire in the same area to form the body of the raccoon, and then bend the other end to make a tail. Using a black-colored fuzzy wire, wrap the upper portion of the gray fuzzy wire to create a face and bend the two ends to form ears.
Glue on googly eyes and a pompom for the nose. Make the raccoon smile by cutting a small piece of black-colored fuzzy wire and bending it. Glue the smile at the bottom of the raccoon’s eyes.
Supplies:
- 1 black fuzzy wire
- 2 gray fuzzy wires
- Black permanent marker
- Glue or glue dots
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Tiny black pompom
- Tiny googly eyes
Learn more about this activity on artsymomma.com.
This activity is something not only the children will love but their parents, as well! The children can use the cards to show their parents that they’re not scared of their first day at school.
Print the template on card stock and have them ready before the first day. Make sure that each child has one card.
Once they arrive, call each one up and paint their hand, while leaving a heart shape in the middle without any paint.
Have the children stamp their hands on the card and let it dry. The cards should be ready by the end of the day.
Instruct the children to take the cards home and tell their parents about their first day at school. Encourage the kids to hang their cards on their refrigerators at home to remind them and their parents how fun the first day of school was!
Supplies:
- Card Template
- Cardstock
- Paint
Check out mrsjonescreationstation.com to download the card template and for other kissing handcrafts!
Children will easily remember the story of The Kissing Hand if they make something related to it. This activity is sure to encourage story recall and creativity among children!
Create some salt dough by mixing flour, salt, and water. Flatten the dough (about 1/2-inch thick) and have each child press their hand onto it to leave an imprint. Using a sharp knife, cut around the edges of the handprint. Bake the salt dough handprint for a few hours at 100 degrees Celsius.
Once the handprint has cooled down, have the children decorate theirs using different colored paints. Remind them to add a heart in the middle of the hand. After decorating, add a coat of sealer to ensure the keepsake lasts longer.
Supplies:
- Acrylic paint
- Mod Podge
- Salt dough
For other salt dough crafts for preschoolers, visit messylittlemonster.com.
Conclusion
By practicing the activities mentioned here, learning about The Kissing Hand will be fun for children. It’ll allow them to understand the story better while being able to enhance their skills.
Make it a habit to visit our site to learn other activities based on different themes!
People Also Ask
This section is dedicated to answering some of the most common questions teachers have about The Kissing Hand. The information here can help you better understand the book and the story it conveys.
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn teaches children that anxiety is common and that being brave is the best way to move forward. It also encourages children to be more open to their parents about their feelings.
